Statement of NARFE President Richard Thissen on the end of the government shutdown

January 22, 2018

Statement of NARFE National President Richard G. Thissen upon passage of legislation to reopen the government:

“While some have called this shutdown ‘political theater’ and less consequential than past shutdowns, for federal employees, it was anything but. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees were hard at work the last three days while others were forced to stay home - all of them worried when they would receive their next paycheck. We cannot allow congressional impasse on any issue to dictate when our nation’s public servants are able to serve our citizens.

“NARFE applauds the funding deal’s inclusion of back pay for those federal workers who were unable to go work during the shutdown. We cannot allow our nation’s civil servants to be collateral damage in congressional gridlock and we thank those who voted to provide back pay.”